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ST. JOSEPH — Berrien County officials passed their latest emergency response exercise at the D.C. Cook nuclear power plant with flying colors, Sheriff Paul Bailey reported to the Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

September: The real American holidays?

A big part of my job as a journalist is to share information with people that they might not know.

In May, I got a barrage of emails and phone calls about why this column didn’t include Memorial Day. Well the answer is: everyone already knows about Memorial Day.

And we all know tomorrow is Labor Day, and Sept. 11 is Patriot Day, so let’s move on to the other American holidays you might not know about in September.

Like, for example, that tomorrow is also National Blueberry Popsicle Day.

Popsicles were invented by accident in 1905 by an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson.

According to a story by National Public Radio, Epperson had mixed some sugary soda powder with water and left it out overnight. It was a cold night, and the mixture froze. In the morning, Epperson ate it, licking it off the wooden stirrer.

He declared it an Epsicle, a combination of icicle and his name, and started selling the treat around his neighborhood, eventually patenting the name and selling them all around the world.

If you weren’t an art history major, or have never been to an art museum, you may not know about the artist Sept. 7 recognizes.

The day is National Grandma Moses Day for Anna Mary Robertson Moses, a renowned American folk artist who was known for her paintings of American’s rural past and holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Mother’s Day. Her painting “Fourth of July” was given to the White House.

Grandma Moses’ exhibitions were so popular during the 1950s that they broke attendance records all over the world. On her 100th birthday, Sept. 7, 1960, New York’s governor proclaimed it her day.

A new, and not interesting at all, holiday is National Report Medicare Fraud Day on Sept. 12.

The day, that no one was craving at all, was created in 2017 by an attorney who worked for 15 years in the U.S. Department of Justice’s whistleblower office. The DOJ has a program in which if you report a Medicare fraud case, you can get between 15 and 25 percent of the amount the DOJ recovers.

Sept. 15 is a big day with National Cheese Toast Day, National Linguine Day, National Felt Hat Day, National Double Cheeseburger Day, National Creme de Menthe Day, National Tackle Kids Cancer Day, National Online Learning Day, Greenpeace Day and Wife Appreciation Day. I’ll let you all figure out how to combine those and make them about America.

Learn about how the USA came to be and celebrate those who get to become U.S. citizens on Sept. 17. The date is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.

On this day in 1787, members of the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution. While the Constitution, and who has rights as a citizen, have changed over time, it’s an important day to reflect on the progress we’ve made, and what we still have yet to do, as a country.

Each year on the third Thursday of September, it’s pawpaw’s chance to shine. National Pawpaw Day celebrates the largest edible fruit native to the United States.

Here in Southwest Michigan we have a community, a river, lakes and roads named after the fruit, but we don’t have an annual festival like Athens County Ohio does.

Just outside of Athens, where I attended college at Ohio University, is a weekend-long event celebrating the creamy mango-banana-flavored pawpaw. Attendees can get treats of all sorts made with pawpaws, enjoy music and craft vendors all surrounded by a beautiful lake.

The fourth Thursday is also an important day in America: National Voter Registration Day.

With technology and Michigan’s new voting law passed in November, it’s easier than ever to register to vote.

Democracy, a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting, is dependent on you all registering, then getting out to vote.

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again, I only care a little bit about who you vote for, I mostly care that you vote.

It would be amazing to see 100 percent voter turnout next election.

End the month with National Chewing Gum Day on Sept. 30, as well as National Mud Pack Day, National Hot Mulled Cider Day and National Love People Day.

If you see a holiday you think I should highlight, email me at anewman@TheHP.com or find me on Twitter @HPANewman.